WalNUTS! '54 Bass (Warning No Warmoth Content)

[Cagey]

Not sure why you'd need any pickguard on an instrument that is rarely picked.

 

[amigarobbo]

Progress being made! (slowly)

Pickup or order from the localish The Creamery for a bog standard 52 Pickup, https://www.creamery-pickups.co.uk/classic-52-tele-precision-p-bass-pickups.html Well except I've asked for a slight underwound and a light potting on the pickup. I like to feel special you know.  :evil4:


I think I'll go for the double cover look, still thinking about a small black scratchplate,  :icon_scratch:

 

[Fat Pete]

This is going to look really sharp. I'm generally an advocate of scratchplates and still think this should have one, but (I don't quite believe I'm saying this) in this case it would seem more than a little perverse to cover up so much of the walnut with the original style.

 

[amigarobbo]

Slight *bump*

Pickup cover turned up, I think there's enough metal work so a pickguard isn't needed for aesthetic reasons.  :cool01:

I've also thought I might go for little wood inserts and bolts to put the covers on, M3 or something, rather than simple screws and those, oh dear, plebeian screw holes if I take it off.

I might change my mind on that last point.  :toothy11:

 

[rgand]

That looks good with both covers but does the pickup cover affect the sound adversely? I know on my first Tele, the ashtray cover made a major difference in the sound. It looked cool with it on but without it, the tone was much better.

 

[amigarobbo]

That looks good with both covers but does the pickup cover affect the sound adversely? I know on my first Tele, the ashtray cover made a major difference in the sound. It looked cool with it on but without it, the tone was much better.

The Sydcaster I've mentioned above ^^ does sound warmer with the cover on, I suppose you could say different rather than worse. I prefer the the sound without the cover, but I like bright, thin, twangy guitars.  I can't remember if the cover raises or lowers the output.

But as to this one, the p51 pickup tends towards brightness, and a relatively thin sound*, maybe the cover will make it sound more beefy Split P sound, who can say until I've tried it?  :dontknow:

* [youtube]P_sP3XzH39U[/youtube]

Edited to add, the reason I want a cover is that I don't want to put my big greasy thumb on the uncased, protected by String P51, and the cover will give me somewhere to put my said greasy thumb.

 

[rgand]

That's a cool vid. About the cover, a bright sound is good. Too bad no one makes a plastic cover that's plated to look like chrome.

 

[amigarobbo]

Err.. Rickenbacker do.

:laughing8:

 

[rgand]

Err.. Rickenbacker do.

:laughing8:

I didn't know that. Is that something that would interchange with the one you have if you decided you wanted to switch?

 

[amigarobbo]

If it really changed the tone in a way I didn't like, I'd just remove it.

The Rickenbacker 4001/4003 pickup covers are plastic, but sprayed with copper to give some shielding, coper shielding I belive, so i don't even know that would be different than a steel one,  :icon_scratch:

They're also too bulky to attach to a top,

Also, I've been taking my life in my hands and looking at Reverb, I'm still thinking about a cream pearloid half guard

I'm taking it to the people are able to put a nut in on Monday, and I'm going for inserts and bolts for the neck, might as well. So I need to stop dithering like a politician and decide if I want a scratchguard or not.

 

[davegardner0]

That looks good with both covers but does the pickup cover affect the sound adversely? I know on my first Tele, the ashtray cover made a major difference in the sound. It looked cool with it on but without it, the tone was much better.

The Sydcaster I've mentioned above ^^ does sound warmer with the cover on, I suppose you could say different rather than worse. I prefer the the sound without the cover, but I like bright, thin, twangy guitars.  I can't remember if the cover raises or lowers the output.

But as to this one, the p51 pickup tends towards brightness, and a relatively thin sound*, maybe the cover will make it sound more beefy Split P sound, who can say until I've tried it?  :dontknow:

* [youtube]P_sP3XzH39U[/youtube]

Edited to add, the reason I want a cover is that I don't want to put my big greasy thumb on the uncased, protected by String P51, and the cover will give me somewhere to put my said greasy thumb.

How is it to play around those big ole covers? I've never tried out a bass with covers before...I guess you have to pick/pluck either in front of or behind the pickup cover?

 

[amigarobbo]

I don't have a problem with a Rickenbacker 4001's cover, but this is in a slight different position. I think I'd be able to put my thumb on the cover and play on the bridge side, but that's one of those things you really can't tell until you try it.

And as wiser minds than me have said:

"Looking at the cake is like looking at the future, until you've tasted it, what do you really know? And then, of course, it's too late."

 

[davegardner0]

Hah yeah that's quite a conundrum! Maybe you could string up the bass and tape the cover on or something, to try it out before you drill holes in the body?

 

[amigarobbo]

:blob7:

It's waiting on the pickup, and then I can finish the electronics....

:turtle:
It's lovely loud and clangy, acoustically at least

 

[amigarobbo]

BY the way, I know I'm getting ahead of myself here, but guess what my next build, my LAST build will be?

 

[Cagey]

A '69 Camaro SS w/ a 396 under the hood?

 

[Sovereign_13]

A Factory Five Roadster with a 427?

 

[amigarobbo]

I think we're being a bit silly now.

 

[Sovereign_13]

Based on the hardware, looks like a 12-string...Mustang?  With a Toronado bridge?

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Walnut really does take to tru oil quite nicely.

Well done good sir, well done!